Death Toll Rises to 200 in Syria's Latest Siege of Hama

The New York Timesis reporting a new death toll from the siege on Hama, the center of the Syrian resistance where tanks stormed the town square on Wednesday:

The Syrian military forces that rolled into the rebellious city of Hama and occupied its central square have killed more than 100 people over the past 24 hours, according to rights activists in satellite communication with people in the city. The new toll doubled the rough count of civilian dead there to more than 200 since the military’s tanks began shelling Hama over the weekend.

This number is a significant spike from the BBC's report that "at least 140 people have been killed in the Syrian unrest since Sunday, mainly in Hama, adding to a civilian death toll believed to be more than 1,600 since March." The Associated Press reports from Beirut, "A resident of the Syrian city of Hama says gunmen in plainclothes are randomly shooting people in the streets."

Meanwhile, activists from the Syrian opposition are calling the United Nations' failure to condemn the acts of the Syrian government a "moment of shame."